It will cost tax payers a fortune.
At the international conference Oil and Gas Sector Contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals, Sergey Vakulenko, Head of Strategy and Innovation Department, Gazprom Neft PJSC, expressed his doubt on the likeliness of fast energy transformation and fossil fuels rejection.
“Top analytical agencies like McKinsey are considering a scenario according to which the world countries won’t reach an agreement and will follow their ways as if nothing has happened or with some slight adjustments, and that is a positive option. Energy transition with total decarbonization by 2050 is a regular scenario,” Sergey Vakulenko said. According to him, whether we take the Kyoto or Paris or any other climate change protocol, none of them prescribe any fines or penalties for noncompliance.
He also pointed out that energy transformation would cost a fortune like thousands of dollars to every citizen in mature countries. “People usually discount future threats and are unwilling to spend money for them. Besides, as soon as people realize that this money is going to be spent somewhere far away from their homes, they will start considering if they really need it,” Mr. Vakulenko is sure.
“As far as I am concerned, doing nothing today is not a proper choice because it will cost us so much more later,” he reasoned. “Well, we can hope for a volcano to erupt as in 1813 with loads of ashes rising up in the air and causing a no-summer year with consequent ambient temperature reduction, but we’d better do something real now.” Mr. Vakulenko doesn’t really expect energy transformation to be as fast as many expect it to be.
Gazprom Neft is doing a lot to protect the planet and expects to reduce its carbon footprint by 30% by the year of 2030 (as compared to the figures of 2019).
“For this, we are going to enhance our energy efficiency, totally abandon routine gas burning etc. However, the mass media are not too concerned about it. They are more interested about what we are going to do in a decarbonized world,” Mr. Vakulenko specified.